Letter
by ficwriterm
Summary: Richard receives a mysterious letter, asking for his help, and decides to find out who has sent it.
1. Chapter 1

When I woke up in the next morning, there was a letter waiting for me. I stayed with Zedd overnight in a small inn on our way towards the eastern province of Ashdar's, after Cara and Kahlan had departed for the quest of the Golden Branch. The host of the inn handed over the letter.

"This came late yesterday evening. It's a pigeon that I know, but I haven't seen it for a long time. I can't tell exactly where it came from and who has sent this letter. It's addressed to Richard Cypher."

"That's interesting, really. How this person knows where to find us?"

"Yeah, really interesting", Zedd said, "Open it."

I opened the letter which was rolled in a cylinder. It read:

_Dear Richard Cypher,_

_I wish this letter finds you in good condition. First time I got to know about you from the stories I heard in my home village. I didn't believe they were true. But when I and my friends heard more and more of them and what you have done, we started to believe that you are the only one who can save us. I ask you to find us. I know this is a big wish that you will most probably not be able to fulfil. And when you read this, it is not even certain that we are any more here. But if you accept to find us, you need to follow the signs of the rose. I can't tell you more. You are our only hope. _

_Yours, forever_

I was stupefied by the message. It felt like very personal in style.

"Why the person didn't sign it?"

"Maybe it's dangerous for him? Or her? We cannot know", Zedd said.

"And what kind of signs? There are no more details."

This would mean a difficult choice, I thought, when I turned the small parchment in my hands. There was nothing more, just the message on one side. The back side was yellowish and empty.

"It's also possible that it's a set-up. A trick to fool us to reveal ourselves, if we are asking around a lot. And remember Richard, we are also bound by time."

The last sentence of the letter touched me. The person writes that I was their only hope. And that final 'yours, forever'. I was shocked that somebody writes like this even he or she hasn't probably seen us ever, or that's what I thought.

"Zedd... despite everything, we must take this one. I need to know who has sent this letter and if we really can help."

"Richard, are you sure? It's your call, but think what you are possibly risking."

"I know Zedd. I'm risking time. But everything what I do is already risky. If I can help these people, at least I have done something."

Zedd looked at me and smiled.

We wondered what to do and what would be the signs of the rose that this person wanted us to see.

"Let's think about it Zedd", I started to go again over the text of the message. "The person asks us to follow the signs of the rose to find them. Who are they? What signs we should follow?"

It was pretty much a complete mystery at that point. And honestly I can still feel that same feeling, not knowing at all what would happen, how the whole thing would turn out, if this would be something useful for someone. I wondered if this would be a real, important side story to my quest or just waste of time.

We arrived at the next small town on our way, and attempted to get cautiously some insight into the mysterious signs. There was really nothing, the inhabitants couldn't help us and hadn't heard anything about this notion of signs of the rose. However, we learned that there was a rose garden in the town and decided that there would be nothing to lose if we visited it.

The garden was spacious, partly neglected park at the northern side of the town. We wandered around and admired the blaze of color. Zedd told about the different species and speculated on their origin, while I continued to speculate on the message and the signs.

"Hah, do you think, Zedd, there could be some kind of secret signs here? Signs that would be related to the letter?"

"Aah, haha. It's very difficult to believe. It's very improbable. But let's not kill the idea either."

"Signs, secret signs", I spoke just to myself, glanced over the colorful rose beds and thought about the last sentence of the letter. Me, I should be the only hope. For who?

It would have been easy to drop the whole case and continue according to the original plan. I could have thought that the letter simply cannot belong to this universe. It was too mysterious and improbable. But it was real. I touched the letter again in my pocket. It was there and it had come from somewhere, from a real person. It really appeared to be a cry for help, it sounded like that. Or was it something else? A love letter? Or a fake letter? I couldn't know if the letter was true, written with true intentions, or just with an intention to distract us, lead us dangerously astray, or simply an attempt to make us lose time.

We followed the garden's main path forward. Then Zedd stopped.

"Look. Here is something."

Zedd pointed at a wooden plate, which was half hidden inside one of the colorful rose beds, a half broken plate. On the two sides there were pieces of text that made me shiver. On one side there was the word "hope", but on the other side a half of the word that I couldn't anymore believe to be just a coincidence, namely the remaining letters read "..ker".

"No, no no, this is too strange, cannot be… or can it? Can this be a sign for us? Hope for a Seeker? Zedd, is there something special with this particular rose bed?"

Zedd looked carefully into the different species.

"Hmm, let me see. Hm… this bed is mainly of western roses, but this one, hm … Abyssinica? Is it? I didn't see it often in this region. And the plate was on that part."

"So… okay. And what would that mean? Does it give any hints where to go next?"

"I need to think. Maybe it's again those word plays we met with our Box of Times adventure. Abyssinica, abyss, sinica, what can it be?"

"Ah fine, word plays, okay, Aciniss, Nissica, ..." I searched and played with the letters, "Oh I think I got something… Csinias, I have heard this name. At least it can be formed from the letters."

"The village of Csinias is in this province and not so far from here."

"But Zedd", stream of uncomfortable thoughts came to my mind, "so far everything has been just assumptions. We don't know if we are just making everything up and this is just coincidences. We are interpreting too much."

"That's always possible, even likely", Zedd admitted smiling and I thought that yes, coincidences, interpretations, efforts to parse things up, but this how it seems to be.

I was really confused, but had to think that this was the only clue for now, to go to Csinias and look for the person or find more signs.

"Richard, there is something else. Close to this Abyssinica species, right here, there is another species, which is also not so common. It's Acicularis, the prickly rose, the wild one."

"And what about it?"

"If I remember correctly Richard, this particular rose, it's a very spiky one, is the favorite rose of certain… hm people. I think you can guess. Wild merciless people."

"Spiky wild roses? What, you are not speaking about... Mord-Siths, are you?"

"I'm afraid I am, Richard. It's their favorite flower."

"Oh no," I looked at Zedd with open eyes, "shit not again." Wherever I turned, It seemed I had to deal with these red-clad devilish women. Ok, it was obviously not anymore the case with Cara who served me, but the others.

All this felt unreal and, to be honest, our interpretations highly stretched. Things just went through my mind. If the letter was true, if we are now in a correct track, if this plate is a sign, if and if. And on top of that, we would possibly need to face again some Mord-Siths, now without the help of Cara and Kahlan.

But in any case, things being true or false, real or unreal, our next destination was clear, the village of Csinias.


	2. Chapter 2

On our way to Csinias disbelief hit me and I felt I needed Zedd's support for what we were doing.

"Hah hah. We take a detour because we think... what? That messages are passed to us via... flowers?"

"I told you this is your call Richard and I stand behind you and believe in it. And please Richard, don't underestimate rose gardens. I have good experiences of them. And you know, perhaps somebody, an important person, in a suitable moment, will have a word or two to say about transmitting messages via roses."

I had to smile, damn this Zedd, it was not the first time that I thought I really have things I can learn from him.

"Okay, okay, you are right, absolutely right."

"But this may not be an easy adventure, Richard."

We arrived at Csinias. After a few rounds on the streets, we spotted an inn with a promising name for us, Rose's Inn. We entered into a drowsy atmosphere. A cat was just walking down the stairs and a dog was sleeping next to the barkeeper's desk. We asked something to eat and drink.

"Tell me barkeeper, how did you choose the name of this inn? And is there anything special in this village that you would like to recommend for us? Such as… say flower gardens or so?"

"Wow that's an interesting question. How did I choose the name of this inn? Well, it… it just came to my mind that this name could attract more visitors. Oh, you can stay overnight if you wish."

Zedd looked at me and I understood he was not fully convinced. The cat jumped on my lap.

"And about specialties of this village, well I don't really know, this is just a village like any other around here. We don't have any rose gardens. We live a peaceful life, nothing really special happening. Please take more beer."

I also started to think something was not right, but on the other hand, our sign, if true, pointed to this village. We considered we would stay just this evening and next day and then see what we should do.

I lifted the cat on the floor and went to the backyard. It was a perfect moment to do my sword exercises, since Zedd had already gone to our room and I needed to calm my mind. At some point I noticed that the cat had again appeared and looked at me with its inscrutable eyes. I finished the drills undisturbed by the presence of the cat, but also not fully calm. "What do you want my little cat", I thought at that point, and this question would come to haunt me again very soon.

Back in the room I found Zedd sleeping happily, snoring as usual, and I prepared to go to bed. But then I heard some small sounds at the door. Not too surprised I found my little spectator, the cat, who wanted to get in. Why not, I thought, and let the four-legged visitor in, not expecting anything special. I remember I fell asleep fast by listening to the little sounds that the cat seemed to make with her claws on the wooden floor.

But things in my dream got to a completely new level, a bit similar special experience as the kaleidoscopic dreams on our way to the Box of Times sanctuary. It all started probably at midnight, but I'm not sure. I heard in my dream whispers: _Richard… hope... you are the only hope_. Then I felt a soft touch on my forehead, and this time it was a furry touch. "What, the cat?" I remembered thinking at that moment and thought that I opened slowly my eyes. But what I saw and what followed was a surprise I wouldn't have expected. Later Zedd tried to convince me so many times that all this was in my dream, but still I'm not sure if I believe him.

"What the…"

A young, beautiful, blond woman sat on my bed. She looked at me with eyes full of hope. I winced and shook my head. I saw that Zedd was sleeping and the cat had disappeared.

"Shh… Richard."

"Who…how?"

"Please", she turned and looked at Zedd. "Don't wake up the wizard."

It felt real, too real.

"Let me stay with you."

I hesitated and looked into her eyes.

"O...okay."

"Do you want to save people Richard? Do you want to save me?"

"Who are you? How did you get in here?"

"Oh… Richard. My name is Caren, but names don't matter." She put her arms around me. "I can get where I want."

The irreality of the scene made it difficult to act and know what to do. All was unclear. It was like being stuck in a dream between a dream and the reality.

"Richard, I… I feel you don't want to help me." Caren stood now up and took a couple of steps away.

"No… no, it's just that I don't know what this is, am I dreaming or what. Please come back and tell me more."

"Okay then Richard. But you must trust me. Do you trust me?"

"It is difficult to…"

"Do you trust me or not Richard?"

I remember I watched Zedd. I didn't want to wake him up as Caren had wished. What happened then I cannot remember, only that she came closer. Next thing I remember was that Zedd tried to wake me up and I was very exhausted.

"Richard. Richard, wake up. Are you ok? The expression on your face was like you were solving the Riddle of Gaefrith, hah. You know they say it's unsolvable, I tried it in some long nights when I couldn't sleep, but to no success, of course."

"Mmh, what are you... Zedd… ok, I'm waking up."

"And you muttered something about a cat and somebody called Caren. Who is her?"

"Oh where's the cat?"

"What cat? I didn't see any cat", Zedd looked around in the room.

"Okay maybe it went out during the night."

"So, Richard, get back to this world, okay? We need to decide what to do next. What is our next sign? Where should we go from here?"

We went for a breakfast and I tried to gather my thoughts but not very successfully.

"Zedd, do you think a cat can transform into a human?"

"Okay now, what's this thing with the cat?"

"This cat of yesterday, here, she followed me to the backyard where I did my drills, and then she came to our room and in the night I saw weird things, a woman speaking about hope." I told this and the other things I experienced during the night.

"Well you are not only seeing weird things, you are also speaking strange stuff. Hm. I have not seen a cat in this inn, in this village, actually no cat since we left Ashrith."

I looked at Zedd confused.

"The… cat of yesterday? Here, the one which jumped on my lap? You don't remember?"

"Richard, please. Really, I haven't seen a cat here."

"I had a cat a long time ago, but it escaped", the barkeeper added and Zedd started to think deeper.

"Now Richard, I tell you something. It sounds weird, but I think… I think we are not completely alone with this strange letter thing. And moreover, if you really saw a cat and you think it appeared transformed in your dream, it might have been an… hm."

"What Zedd?"

"Aeriel."

"What?"

"Yes, an aeriel. Some people call them succubi. I didn't expect this. But the only way to explain what you are telling to me is that an aeriel, named Caren as you said, visited your dream. And she knows perhaps something about the letter."

"Great. What do you think Zedd, should we continue?"

"I'm afraid we don't have anymore another choice. This aeriel has now found you and she will not release you unless this 'hope' thing the letter speaks about is clarified. Or that's what I believe."

I shivered. No turning back, once again. But I started to realize this is what is expected from me.

"We need to very soon find where we will go next."


	3. Chapter 3

"All right then Zedd. A mysterious letter, women appearing in my dreams, roses, invisible cats following my sword practices and what not", I sighed and smiled that this is what it is, Seeker's Life. Just gonna figure it out and appreciate it. "So what are we going to do?"

"Yeah that's what I would like to know too. It's like a mystery script, elements from here and there, and..."

At that precise moment I saw the cat again. It was looking at me at the doorsteps of the inn and its eyes told me to follow.

"Okay Zedd, let's move. I have a hunch."

"Hunch? O-kay, what kind of?"

"I don't know really exactly, I can't say." I didn't want to tell Zedd about the cat because he would think I was crazy. I lifted up, collected my things and turned to the barkeeper. "By the way, what was name of the cat you had?"

"I called her Rosie."

Blood pumped in my veins and I stood up. It was like a double dose of Midlands' Finest just absorbed through my brain.

"You see! I" said victoriously to Zedd who apparently didn't understand what I was talking about. "Let's just follow the signs."

"Well I don't see, but I trust you." He shook his head smiling and followed me.

I rushed out from the inn and believed I saw the cat on a route between the small houses, after which it again disappeared.

"This way."

"So…"

"Yes, and this is the correct way", I anticipated what Zedd would have asked. "I'm sure."

There was a big distance between us and the cat, or to my observation of it, because I couldn't really guarantee that it was correct what I saw, and I didn't want to go now into discussions with Zedd about the seeing or not seeing these feline friends and what that would possible mean. So I just followed this sweet animal and Zedd followed me. The route departed from the denser parts of Csinias and we entered a small path through the fields and towards the nearby forest.

"Richard, keep your sword ready, we are again in regions where we don't know what awaits us."

The midday sun was warm, we kept walking forward and I had to several times remind myself what I was doing and convince that I wouldn't waver. After all, the goal was clear in my mind: to help those people who wrote to me the letter.

The walking felt even a bit hypnotic. I had to watch sharply the view to notice if my cat took any turns from the main path. Indeed it took, which lead us to an even smaller path, now southwards. With the extreme concentration my mind started to play and I remembered again the nightly visitor in my dream, Caren. An aeriel? Huh? No way, I couldn't believe it really. Or could I? What does Zedd really know about this and should I try to ask more about it?

"Richard! What are you dreaming? Don't you see, on your left!"

Whoosh!

"Ah, shit!" I raised my sword in a knee-jerk reaction to Zedd's shout and not a single fraction of a second too late. My sword had just deflected an Agiel, wielded by a dark-haired Mord-Sith.

Two other Mord-Siths stood on our right. All of them were dressed up from head to toe in their red leathers, hair tightly bound into a braid and an expression which signaled no chance of negotiations, literally the fate of the negotiator would be to become ripped into pieces.

"Well well well... a dreaming Seeker with his old faithful wizard. Pleased to meet you. I'm Mistress Mel."

"What do you want?" Zedd asked angrily.

"Oh pardon me… with his grumpy old faithful wizard… I should have remembered haha," the brown-haired Mord-Sith started to make fun of us.

"Hey come on", I moved closer to Zedd.

"You managed to avoid this little thingy", Mel said caressing her Agiel. "As we expected, of course. But I noted that your reflexes are a bit rusty, okay? Or disturbed by your dreaming, huh? What are you dreaming about, about us or what?"

"Okay enough, what do you want?" I repeated Zedd's question.

"We want to take you with us. You have something we are interested in, yeah, some things need to be hmm ironed out… oh poor Seeker, everybody seems to want a piece of you."

Sun played on the details of her outfit, the leather reflected and absorbed light and its play culminated into a glimmer on the small chain of the Agiel.

"We have an explicit order to not kill you, believe it or not Seeker. Of course the order doesn't prevent us from doing everything else we fancy with you."

"Sorry but not interested."

"On a mission huh? Saving someone as usual? We will help you with that."

I realized I should not tell anything about the letter. But it became soon clear that they knew already about it. I looked at Zedd who shook his head.

"Of course you can try to kill us. That's the only way to try to get rid of us. But we are many and we are here to stay."

To my surprise Mel put her Agiel now on the ground. But then things escalated, there was again no time to think. She took a step forward.

"Look, no Agiel, if that's what you are worried about. Come on, challenge us. Hit me, do what you want. If you know what you want. Do you?"

I looked into her eyes and for a quick moment I saw another face in my mind, I think you know who I mean. I took a hesitating step aside. It was enough and Mel directed a strong kick toward my face. A fight ensued. They were tough even without Agiels, and strangely enough it's like they wanted the fight to be like this. In the midst of the fight I wounded Mel and turned to the second one, while Zedd managed to keep the third one at a distance.

"Shit!" Mel hissed holding her arm and breathed heavily. "Hitting girls like this… Goddammit can't you do any better?"

I heard this red devil's words and I wondered what the heck they wanted from us if they didn't want to outright kill us, their usual business. My concentration had faltered from these thoughts and Brianna, the second Mord-Sith, had managed to get behind me. Her arm slithered around my neck, she started to choke me and I received a couple of painful punches on my body.

"Ahh! Shit! Zedd, fast, Zedd!"

Zedd used his magic, not on the Mord-Sith but on me. It was a pressure wave and it was enough that we both lost balance and fell on the ground. As Mel was out of the game due to her wounds, it was me against Brianna and Zedd against the third one. We crumbled down and for a short moment I thought whether these god-forsaken female creatures are just there to haunt me and make my life even more complex or do they have some true human life inside. But it was no question-answer time at that moment.

She was strong and so was I. It was just a matter of luck that I ended up on top of her as we fell down and I was able to keep her under me. The situation looked like a stalemate.

"Okay girls", Mel said, "It's fine. Come here." I let Brianna get up. She panted, cleaned the dust out off her outfit and smiled. Mel turned to us. "Test number one passed. With Agiels next time. And by the way we won."

I looked at her.

"We won, you better bow to us."

I still didn't understand.

"Bow to us!"

"Wha…?"

"Seeker… don't do it", I heard a faint voice from somewhere at the side.

"You stubborn self-centered stupid boy bow to us!" Brianna kicked me hard on my left leg with her boot. "Now!"

"No… no! Please Richard don't bow to them." The voice was of a young person. I stood still and tried to figure out what was going on. I saw a girl, ten meters away from us. Two Mord-Siths stood next to her with Agiels in their hands. It looked to me they were about to hurt the her and it broke my heart.

"On… your… knees"! Mistress Brianna's second kick was above my knee and it dropped me.

"Shit", my body started to hurt. "Ahh... take us but leave the girl." I looked up, then at Zedd on my left and the girl. The Mord-Siths smiled and I saw a calm satisfaction on their lips, the satisfaction of an accomplished mission.

"Why? Oh the classic, leave the girl and take me. No way. We take both of you."

The little girl covered her face with hands. I heard her mutter in a desperate voice words which I cannot forget: "It's all our fault, we should never have written the letter, we should never have believed... we just make bad things to happen to our Seeker."


	4. Chapter 4

Things started to make more sense. The girl and her friends had written the letter, we found them and now we should save them. But there was only one problem facing this brave rescue operation: the five Mord-Siths who surrounded us, with Agiels in their hands and with a satisfaction of having captured a valuable gem.

"You will come with us now. But the wizard stays here. Leave your sword to him."

I looked at Zedd and he seemed surprised. The Mord-Siths surely knew that Zedd would come after me. There was something behind this.

"Come on, we don't have all the day."

"Okay, so where do we go? What do you want from me?"

"Well let's put it in this way. We are on a special mission and you will soon see", Mel said.

Zedd nodded at me. His figure got smaller when we started to march, first walked the two Mord-Siths with the girl, then Mel, then me and Brianna and behind us Clarice, the fifth one.

There was one hour to walk and I had time to think of plans, although the way forward was not at all clear. Materially it was one against five, with possibly Zedd as a backup if he could follow us, then the girl and maybe later her friends, and that was it. Would it be worth the effort to try a sudden attack? I was not sure.

The Mord-Siths didn't seem to follow strictly any simple order, such as wanting to kill me, since they could have done it already, so in principle I could rise up against them. But then what? The same thing would probably happen as earlier, I would beat some of them, but then I would get surrounded by the others, would get a couple of kicks and punches, ending up threatened by the Agiels.

We arrived at a very small village, a village like any other at this region, but I saw that something had happened. A few Mord-Siths patrolled on the main street and no other people could be seen.

"This is it? An empty village?" I turned to Brianna. "What, have you slaughtered its people? I don't get it."

"It's not empty", she said dryly.

Mel turned to me.

"Listen Seeker. We are at our destination. And now comes the fun part. I'm the head of this operation and we need information from you. By the way, nobody knows about this village anymore, so I don't think you will get any help. The magic guy may find his way here but he cannot help you."

While Mel spoke, the little girl had run forward in one of the small houses. The Mord-Siths didn't follow her, and it was clear that there was something special why no guarding was needed in this village.

Then I heard sounds in the small house where the girl was. A few heads appeared at the doorway and I heard young voices saying "He is here, Seeker is here!".

"Come little ones, don't be shy. Yes, your hero is here", Brianna convoked them.

About eight children, girls and boys, of different ages came out from the house, their eyes were wide open and they looked at me shocked.

"It's… really Seeker!" One of them said and they came closer, looking both at the Mord-Siths and at me. I smiled and tried to not scare them by being worried about the situation.

"Yes, I am. And who are yo…"

"We are so sorry Seeker please forgive us! Please!"

"I don't understand… You have really nothing to -"

"They… they made us write that letter!" One girl, her name was Lisa, cried and pointed her finger at Mel and Brianna. "We are sorry!"

I looked at Mel.

"Yes, secrets get revealed, Seeker. You really didn't get it that we were behind the letter?" Mel looked at me, satisfied to hear Lisa do the job of revealing and taking the blame and to see my stunned expression. "So I guess it's really no turning back now huh? You can't leave these young people alone, can you, and on the other hand, you can't do anything to us either. Feelings of powerlessness?"

"I..." I turned to Lisa. "No please don't blame yourselves you didn't do anything wrong!" I said to the girl and her friends.

"Yes, they are innocent, of course they are. Yes and we are the bad girls", Mel continued. "But hey Lisa, isn't it true what we wrote in the message? That Seeker is your only hope and only he can save you?"

"Oh…" Lisa stopped and looked at me and Mel. "It is true. This is what I feel. But Richard, I don't want it like this, they interfere, they make the trouble, they distort this what we want. We want you Seeker, we want… we would..."

"Yes?" Mel touched Lisa's arm softly. "What do you want from your Seeker?"

"Hey don't press her, okay!" I said to Mel angrily when I saw her jump with her question on the girl.

"Oh brave Seeker... ready to defend the small ones, I see, but I only asked her and encouraged her to speak."

Lisa stopped speaking and looked shy.

"I… I don't know", Lisa muttered.

"Don't be shy to say it… Richard is here for you, we brought him to you", Mel tried to persuade Lisa, but Lisa just looked at me with her big eyes and then at her friends.

Something was going on in this exchange between Lisa and Mel and I was happy that Lisa didn't speak more to her. I started to grasp that this is what the Mord-Siths wanted. This is why they wanted to have me.

"Okay, I see, no worry my little ones, you will have time with your Seeker haha, he is such a special guy I know. But we first need to have him eat, sleep and feel comfortable", Mel continued.

The Mord-Siths took me now to the main building of the village.

"Eat, drink. Enjoy the Mord-Sith hospitality, all for you. And see, no real harm done to the children. Relax Seeker."

"No real harm, huh? You take them from their families, or you have killed their families here? No harm done?" I exploded.

"Oh yeah. What do you know about what has happened here? You know nothing!"

Mel slammed her knife on the table.

"Don't stigmatize us with your assumptions… and why you speak about killing this and that all the time? My girls here are not a recruiting squad or a revenge group, if that's what you want to know. I told you we are on a mission."

I had to calm down and think what I would say.

"Okay, okay… so what is your mission then exactly? For what do you need me?"

Mel looked at Brianna who nodded.

"I will tell it to you. We have a special mission to find out what it is what attracts young people to hear about Seeker, speak about him, even act like him. What's the secret in this?"

I tried to understand where she was aiming at.

"You are not stupid, of course, and you know that it's a powerful force the force that makes people admire so strongly somebody, a single person or something. And who holds this power, has the control. It's as simple as that. You are powerful Richard, either you want it or not. You have a power over these young people's minds. And apparently over older ones too."

"No, but I don't think that…"

"Oh please don't deny it! It's your power over their imagination. People write stories about you, for Lord's sake! What makes them do that?" Mel's pulse visibly increased and she shook.

Brianna touched Mel's arm. I understood it as a subtle sign that she should remember the coolness of a trained Mord-Sith. Mel calmed down, almost completely and took again the arrogant Mord-Sith expression, looked at me and kept silent, like this burst of words hadn't happened.

"I think you were able to guess it, Richard, already long time ago. This is one of the most powerful things you have. And it threatens us of course", Brianna spoke to me in a soft voice. "I expect you could guess it and know it already. As Mistress Mel said, you are not stupid." Brianna's eyes gleamed almost imperceptibtly. "Don't be stupid."

In a way I knew exactly what they spoke of. I hadn't formulated this in my mind, and now I hear my thoughts spell out word for word from one of the most dangerous enemies of this land, the Mord-Siths, the dealers of pain and torture, the badasses. I shivered, although I wasn't surprised.

"Okay enough chatting for now, we continue tomorrow." Mel said nonchalantly. "Brianna will take care of you. She will not let you out of her eyes the whole night."

"O-kay, right, I see."

"Yes Mistress Mel. It's my pleasure to take care of him. Come Richard, I will show you where you will rest."


	5. Chapter 5

"Here is where you can stay."

"This room? Okay."

Brianna showed me quite a spacious room in one of the old buildings. The room was in the first floor and there was a long corridor leading to it, the other side opening to a dining space. The building seemed to be abandoned but it was in a reasonable good shape.

"So…" I expected Brianna to leave me some privacy so that I could perhaps take off my clothes and rest, but I didn't see her take that initiative.

"So? Well you heard Mistress Mel's orders. I must keep an eye on you all the time."

"Uh… oh I… I see."

It was terribly warm and I felt I really should take off my shirt. Brianna continued to watch at me.

"Don't be shy Richard. You know Seeker, despite being a Mord-Sith, I still use to dream of guys like you." Brianna's eyes lingered on me.

"Oh, uhm, really?"

"Yes. But not in the usual sense. As you know, love and all those other weak passions are not a thing for us."

Brianna was young, her blonde hair was strong, but her green eyes were not as sharp as Mel's. She was speaking a bit more than what I would have expected from a Mord-Sith, at least I couldn't have imagined Cara speak like this. I hoped Brianna had had her hidden place, a place in her mind that had helped her resist during her training… this could be a chance for me. I wanted her to continue.

"But what prevents you? What if they were a thing for you?"

"Well, you can't really turn again and change back once you have become a Mord-Sith. This is my way now."

"But I believe that it's possible", I said carefully and wished I could get some connection with her.

"No, it's not possible… are you trying to manipulate me?" Brianna turned to me sharply.

"Oh, no, hah, no."

"Carefully, Seeker", her eyes flashed. "Oh, damn!" Brianna saw the bruise on my side, touched it and changed suddenly her tone. "Did I hit you so hard? Hm, let me see. Okay, it may hurt for a while but will heal soon."

I looked at her confused while she kept talking.

"Yes, but we are capable of love. Not in the ordinary sense sure… but otherwise."

Brianna looked at me and I could see a question on her face. "How about you?"

Our exchange took quite a while, and to my surprise she asked more about me, about Cara and Zedd, it was almost friendly. Finally she stretched and said she was tired.

"I'm not going to follow all Mel's orders, she is sometimes a bit pushy. I'm not going to literally watch you sleep. But I will be here, so don't try any tricks."

"Okay", I smiled and nodded, "thanks."

I tried to get sleep and clarify my thoughts. What should I do now? I have to get these kids out from here, but how? And where is their home? I was half asleep with these thoughts, and I was sure I would see again some strange dreams, aeriels or other things. And as I expected, these dreams, whatever they were, didn't again leave me alone.

The room wavered, mixed with dream-like colors on the walls, but then I realized it was me who was speaking, and I approached Brianna. I heard myself asking now her something. I asked if she would trust me and said everything is possible. She retreated along the corridor, in a night robe, but she had fear in her eyes, her eyes were not of a strong Mord-Sith but that of a scared little girl.

The images faded away, this up to now indecipherable alternative reality, and I continued sleeping heavily.

Before dawn I heard sounds at my window. Somebody was throwing small stones at it. I got up silently and saw three children standing outside the building on top of each other. I opened the window carefully.

"Seeker, quick! Take this, we need to go before they catch us."

They handed over a small package, climbed fast down and disappeared. I held the package in my hand.

"Still not sleeping?" I heard Brianna's steps come closer, slipped fast under the blanket and saw her profile at the doorway.

"Oh it's fine, it's fine." I held the package to my body and thought that it would be dangerous for the kids if she found out that I got something from them.

I opened the package. There was a small dagger, I hid it in my clothes and tried to sleep more.

In the morning I felt that I had rested well, but the powerlessness of the situation felt strong. I needed to do something, I couldn't just see what would happen. And these children were in danger, at least I thought so at that point. I decided to act as, since I didn't hear any sounds from outside. I sneaked at the door and saw Brianna was sleeping, a kind of peaceful sleep. I took the dagger and approached her, her Agiel was on her waist but I calculated I could hold her so that she wouldn't be able to reach it.

"Wake up Brianna. Not a word!" I leaned over her, held the dagger on her neck and was careful to see that see she couldn't reach the Agiel.

"What! Shit!" She woke up from her light sleep, took a deep breath and saw my face in front of hers.

"Not a word. Your Agiel, take it slowly and throw it away."

Her face was calm but I could sense electricity, tension in her muscles, she was a surprised tigress calmly waiting for the moment, any moment where the opponent would show a weakness. She did what I ordered, pushed away her Agiel, neutrally and turned to look more into my eyes.

"I didn't expect this from you Seeker. Really." She spoke slowly and smiled a bit. I had to take care not to hesitate.

"What is going on here?" I said with a demanding tone, pushing the tip of the dagger on her neck.

"Ah, you wish you would know. But I have to tell you, even I don't know everything."

"Come on. What did you do to get these kids come here? Have you harmed them?"

"No, seriously, Richard. We haven't harmed them."

"You are lying!"

"No I'm not. You should ask Mel. Or the kids themselves."

I started to hesitate. It was really strange. Maybe I should believe her, and I started to do so. I felt Brianna's breathing, our bodies were touching when I pressed on her. I was without my shirt and saw that it was not too displeasing to Brianna that I challenged her again. Somebody could have thought, in another situation something, but well, that was out of question.

"Okay. Okay then. I hope I can trust you." I left Brianna and went back to my room to dress up.

After a while I heard Mel entering the building.

"Now Seeker, come to meet your admirers. Everything is ready."


	6. Chapter 6

The sun was warm already in the morning and I had to get my eyes used to the brightness. As soon as I got out, I heard voices of the children. They were calling me and I saw some of them come to me. They looked at me and the Mord-Siths around.

"Here he is…" There was a stir among the children. "Will you save us? Will you beat these bad women here? We brought you the dagger… Use it."

Something made me shake my head. Something was wrong. The Mord-Siths looked at me and waited.

"Hey children, Lisa, others, are you okay?"

"Yes, yes we are…" Lisa said. "Seeker! Our hero… do it!" one of them continued.

"Uh, do what, my little ones?"

"Kill these women!"

"No… no please tell me if you are okay and how can I help you", I tried to understand the situation.

I saw excited young faces, the kids looked at me, measured me from up to down and admired me.

"Please Seeker, now that you are here… you must do it."

"Wh… what should I do?"

"Strike these bad women down!"

From the corner of my eye I saw that Mel and Brianna inspected my reactions.

"They told us that we will have a chance to see you", a boy said. "They brought us from the other village here."

"These young people wanted to come. We didn't need to force them", Mel spoke calmly. "You see your influence Seeker. Hah, a rumor is enough and they want to see you. They would do everything for you. And they want you to do what they want."

"To do what?"

"To use your powers. Slay us, heroically with your sword."

I shook my head. And I didn't even have my sword.

"Richard!" At that moment I heard Zedd's voice from the side. He was escorted by two Mord-Siths, and one of them held my sword. "Richard are you ok? Ahh…" The woman on his left kicked him.

"Here is your sword, now start to use it!" She threw the sword to me.

"Come on, fight us, like you did yesterday", Mel continued.

I looked around and and saw the children. They watched my every move, listened my every word. Should I raise my sword now against them? And let these kids see my anger? See my provoked anger?

"Do you love your Seeker?" Mel asked the children.

The children looked excited, they said yes, but the situation seemed to make some of them more and more confused. They waited something from me, I saw they really expected that I raised my sword.

"He is not going to do it…" somebody said from the group. "Like you told us, he is not doing it!" A boy turned to Mel and I saw another girl glance at me, not too happy either.

"You see that he is not the only fighter here. Make him confused and he can't do a thing." Mel smiled and stepped forward. "Brianna fought him yesterday, she could have won. You saw it Lisa, didn't you." Mel looked victorious, came close to me and touched my arm. "He is not doing anything. This a tame hero."

I saw expressions of disbelief in some of the children's faces, whereas the others looked still at me hungry to see what I would do.

"But I don't… I will not attack anybody just like this", I said strongly to Brianna.

Then I turned to the children.

"Are you really okay? Tell me, you don't need to be afraid."

"We are not afraid", one girl said and I saw from her eyes that she spoke the truth. "Mel and Brianna brought us here. Some of us knew they were Mord-Siths but… we didn't tell our parents. And maybe Lisa was scared when she thought you would get hurt." She looked at Mel. "We believed them finally. We believed they will not harm us. They are not taking us. But they did what they promised, they let us see you."

"But why did you want to come with them?" I asked.

"They wanted to see you! Seeker, everybody talks about you." Mel said instead of the girl, "you are their savior, through the use of your sword you will redeem them."

"But…"

The group of kids were restless, they didn't seem to agree with each other. The ones who brought me the dagger still looked at me with shining eyes, but the others turned their eyes at the Mord-Siths.

"They are dangerous", I said to the children.

"You don't understand", Mel interrupted me. "These kids are not stupid. They know what they like. And apparently not anybody likes you so much when they see you in real life. Besides, let them decide, don't decide for them."

What Mel said felt made me feel empty. Yes, some of them seemed to like me much, but the others looked Mel and Brianna almost the same way, even in an admiring way.

"Hey kids, how about letting this Seeker go and continue on his quest? We'll bring you back to your homes, we can also tell more about us, would you like to hear? And these Agiels, they have seen much, they are powerful weapons, much more interesting than swords… and don't believe what you may have heard about us", Brianna talked in a soft tone to the children.

One of the Mord-Siths pushed Zedd and he fell on the ground. I walked to Zedd, lifted him up and looked at the Mord-Siths and the kids.

"One more time, are you okay kids?"

They didn't say anything. I saw a couple of them move closer to Brianna.

"Go. We don't harm you haha, don't be worried, at this moment you are not worth of being even harmed", Mel said in a glacial tone. "And yes, this is the best lesson and source of information we could have learned about you and people's interest in you. Our Master will be very satisfied from all the details."

I was speechless. I think Zedd started to also understand the situation. And it got worse when I saw many of the kids gather around Mel and Brianna. Some of them still looked at me but I could see that even they hesitated.

"Go. Right now these kids don't need you." Brianna said to me and I almost heard compassion in her voice.

The road back to our original route was long and I didn't want to speak much, until I was able to tell Zedd everything what had happened after we got separated.

"Richard, it's hard for you to believe, but you won. I'm sure you don't see it yet. You lost this battle but..."

"Won the war? I'm not sure anymore Zedd. The world is different. It's like a different order. Rumours, hopes, everything can get distorted from their original course. These innocent young people… I'm more worried now."

"There's no original course of things Richard", Zedd said. "Everything is really possible. But we must keep our minds clear."


End file.
